Madrid, 13 April 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Spain's central government has rejected a new proposal by the Catalonia region to hold a referendum on independence.

"With Prime Minister [Pedro] Sánchez there will be no referendum on self-determination in Catalonia," Finance Minister María Jesús Montero told journalists in Madrid on Wednesday.

Montero stressed that the Catalan government of Prime Minister Pere Aragonès must abide by Spain's constitution.

Aragonès on Tuesday announced in Barcelona that a proposal "to solve the basic Catalan problem" would be drawn up in consultation with various sectors of society and be presented to Madrid by early 2024 at the latest.

The goal, Aragonès said, is to hold a referendum similar to the 1995 vote in Canada's Québec province - where voters narrowly rejected independence.

"No one is satisfied with the deadlock in Catalonia," said Aragonès. "The conflict continues."

The announcement was criticized not just in Madrid but also by some pro-independence activists in Catalonia, albeit for very different reasons.

Unlike the left-wing ERC party of Aragonès, other separatists such as the free-market conservative Together for Catalonia (JuntsXCat) want to achieve independence without Madrid agreeing to a referendum.

After an illegal independence referendum and a subsequent decision to secede from Spain in autumn 2017, Catalonia was placed under receivership by the central government.

The regional president at the time, Carles Puigdemont, fled abroad with other members of the government and now lives in Belgium.

Those who remained in the country were sentenced to prison terms of up to 13 years, but have since been pardoned.